Wisdom of pulling/epoxying non-speaking portion bridge pins ???

[Ron Nossaman]

>       On this 1902 Ivers and Pond upright, pretty much
> all the speaking-length bridge pins had small cracks
> emanating from them,  and so I'm pulling them, and
> epoxying in new ones.
>     But the ones on the far side of the bridge are
> almost crack-free, and I'm questioning the wisdom of
> my pulling them out ( I have to clamp a vise-grip on
> them and twist them out--they're in there pretty
> solidly! ) and gluing in new ones.
>     How important is absolute rigidity/tightness/ and
> uniformity with the speaking length pins ???
> Am I wasting my time ? Causing more harm than good,
> perchance ???
>    Thanks!
>    Thump

Realistically, the back bridge pins are of little importance 
other than defining the offset angle that clamps the string to 
the speaking termination of the bridge - which is the pin. 
Baldwin, among others, didn't even bother to notch the back 
side of the bridges in some of their crappy little pianos. And 
no, it's not the absence of back scale notching that makes 
them crappy.


> P.S. Would some super-thin CA , dripped around their
> bases be adequate, to make me feel like I 'did
> something" ???

Usually, replaced bridge pins include resurfacing the bridge 
top and re notching. This is going to be tough without pulling 
all the bridge pins. So you have to decide how close to right 
the rest of the piano will be done, and apply the same 
attitude to the bridge, soundboard, action, etc.
Ron N